In the state of the art, a number of apparatuses for measurement of the weight or mass of a bale comprised of pressed agricultural crop material are known.
For example (DE 44 36 128 A, DE 198 35 163 A, DE 199 10 555 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,880 A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,436 A, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,010 A), it has been proposed to convey a fabricated bale out from the press chamber and onto a support surface, where the weight of the bale is measured while the bale is at rest or is moving, the measurement being a measurement of the force exerted on the support surface. Because a bale is relatively heavy, bringing it to a complete stop requires substantial effort. However, if one attempts to measure the weight force while the bale is moving, the process is subject to substantial measurement error.
In DE 195 43 343 A, it was proposed to measure the weight forces acting on the axles and the tow-bar of a baling press. The weight force of the fabricated bale is calculated based on the change in the forces when a bale is ejected. In order to obtain usable measurement values with this approach, a large number of sensors and a highly developed calculation scheme are required.